Prepare beetroot
How to do it right!
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Beetroot is the ideal winter vegetable: With its gently earthy taste, healthy nutrients and strong color, it ensures a pure taste experience in the cold season. Find out how to properly prepare the root vegetables here!
Beetroot: Interesting facts & tips
- Beetroot is one of the winter vegetables that September to March is available fresh.
- The beetroot is also used as a coloring plant thanks to its strong red coloring: The natural coloring of the beetroot is marked as E 162 in processed foods. And also the juice or the powder of the beetroot conjure up a great red color when cooking and baking in the courts.
- Hands and clothing are colored when they come into contact with the betanin dye, so you should wear an apron and disposable gloves when preparing the beetroot. If you want to avoid disposable gloves, you can also grease your hands with a little cooking oil beforehand or rub them thoroughly with lemon juice afterwards. The best way to protect cutting boards is with greaseproof paper or baking paper. Hot water and soap, on the other hand, help with stains on clothing.
Beetroot: how healthy are the vegetables?
The beetroot is a very healthy food! It is mainly characterized by:
- Folic acid, potassium, iron, vitamin B, zinc and fiber and is also low in calories.
- The betaine it contains is said to reduce the risk of heart disease.
- However, since the content of oxalic acid is very high, people who are prone to kidney stones and small children should not consume beetroot too often.
- It is advisable to prepare or ingest beetroot with foods containing vitamin C (e.g. fresh lemon juice): Beetroot stores nitrates, which could be converted into harmful nitrosamines. Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) inhibits this process.
- When you eat beetroot, the urine turns red, but this is completely harmless.
Prepare beetroot: boil
- Cut back the stalk – but don't sever it completely or even cut into the tubers, otherwise the beetroot will “bleed out” during cooking and lose valuable ingredients.
- Wash the tubers under running water to remove dirt and soil. Leave the bowl on!
- Put the beetroot in a saucepan and cover it with cold water.
- Bring the water to a boil with the lid closed.
- As soon as it boils, turn the heat down and remove the lid.
- The Cooking time is 30 to 50 minutes, depending on the size.
- Salt the water 5 minutes before the cooking time is over, otherwise the salt would remove the color of the beetroot beforehand.
- As soon as you can easily pierce the beets with a sharp knife, the beetroot is done.
- Then chill the vegetables with cold water. The skin can now be easily rubbed off: Use kitchen paper or peel off the skin with a small knife like a potato.
Tip: If you cook the beetroot for purees or in stews, you can peel it beforehand with a peeler and cut it into small pieces. This will reduce the cooking time.
Prepare beetroot: roast it
Beetroot is a delight as an oven vegetable and tastes delicious with a fresh dip!
- Remove the peel of the beetroot with a vegetable peeler and cut the tubers into cubes, slices or wedges.
- Mix the olive oil, sea salt and pieces of vegetables in a bowl, then spread the oven vegetables on a baking sheet lined with baking paper.
- Put the tray in the preheated oven (200 degrees / convection 175 degrees) for 40 to 50 minutes. Finished!
Prepare beetroot: roast
- Peel the beetroot and cut it into slices (about 1 cm thick).
- Heat some oil in a pan and fry the slices for about 5 minutes. Then turn!
- To remove the oil, you should remove the oil from the slices after frying them on a piece of kitchen paper. Then just add salt and the delicious side dish is ready!
Prepare beetroot raw
- Eating beetroot raw is also extremely tasty! In wafer-thin slices as a carpaccio with a vinaigrette or grated in the salad you get the full flavor and full load of good nutrients that would otherwise be reduced by the heat during cooking.
- Who one Juicer at home, can peel the tuber, cut it into small pieces and extract the juice. Together with apple pieces and a little lemon juice, the juice tastes delicious!
Acquired a taste? You can find our delicious beetroot recipes here. Definitely try it out! If you want to keep the beets longer, you can also boil beetroot.
And there are even more winter vegetables here: Find out how to fry Brussels sprouts or how to prepare kale. And here are the best recipes for red cabbage!
If you would like to exchange ideas about recipes and preparation methods, then take a look at our BRIGITTE community!